A difficult second quarter saw this round three fixture get away from our battling U13 boys in Ardee on Wednesday night.

The team had started so well with debutant Brooklyn Taaffe scoring an excellent point and, indeed, Roche led on three occasions inside the opening eight minutes.

Liam McCabe was playing a starring role at full-forward, causing the home team no end of problems, and had he not been hauled down when twice through on the goalkeeper, three-pointers would almost certainly have been the outcome.

Though with Niall Connolly carrying a knock, McCabe was required at midfield and given St. Marys’ physical superiority in central areas, once the Deesiders got a run on the target, Emmets struggled, conceding 10 points on the trot.

The second half was a much more even affair – James Curtis and Adam McGuinness playing blinders, with Kyle Callan faring much better at midfield – and McCabe maintained his impressive scoring ratio from play, while McGuinness kicked a wonderful point after some quick-thinking by Shay Carolan.

Dean Griffin, prolific in his short GAA career to date, also chipped in with a point, and Roche were incredibly unfortunate to concede a late goal with Curtis helpless to prevent a deflected shot from crossing the line.

Onwards and upwards, the team are out next against Dundalk Young Irelands on Wednesday – the first of a string of games they will be confident of winning.

St. Mary’s: Liam McGahon, Luke Woods, Cian Rooney, Tadhg Rooney, Alex Callan, James Skelly, Jack Duffy, Danny Leavy, Evan Dunne, Oisín Moran, Tomás McCoy, Oisín McCartney, Rory Gillan, Davin Mannion, Callum Caffrey, Ardal Carrie, Connor Forrester

Roche: James Curtis; Seán Conlon, Cian Ellis, Ruairí O’Donnell; Adam McGuinness (0-1), Ronan Grant, Dónal Bradley; Niall Connolly, Shay Carolan; Conor Clarke, Kyle Callan, Brooklyn Taaffe (0-1); Bernard Verbeek, Liam McCabe (0-4), Paul Reilly

Subs: Dean Griffin (0-1), Karl Reilly, Peter McArdle

Referee: Brian Brady